Gujarat Assembly passes bill seeking Central government's action against BBC documentary

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Government on Friday adopted a primary member’s bill in the State Assembly demanding that the Centre should initiate strict action against the BBC for its documentary on the 2002 Godhra riots and passed the bill with majority as the Oppostion had earlier staged a walk-out over distribution of prasad at the famous Ambaji Temple.

The bill was moved by BJP MLA of Sojitra Vipul Patel in central Gujarat who stated that the House reviews and discusses about the documentary “aimed at defaming the Modi government.”

He said that the documentary was a ploy to defame Narendra Modi Government on the Godhra riots which took place in 2002. The government was very clear and it had appointed the Justice Nanavati commission to probe the riots that took place post Godhra incident.

"BJP or Modi had no role in the riots"

Patel said the burning of the train was a pre-planned conspiracy and the BJP or Modi had no role in the riots that took place after that. In fact, the then Modi government took all steps to control the situation and book the culprits. The inquiry commission gave a clean chit to the PM.

As the stature of PM is growing internationally, there are some elements trying to defame him. India is growing as an economic superpower under Modi’s regime and “certain elements are trying to destroy the country’s image.”

Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi criticized the BBC for creating a negative image of India and Modi. He said it was on record that the inquiry commission did a comprehensive investigations and took CM Modi and others also under its ambit.

Many MLAs, including Manisha Vakil, Amit Thaker and others spoke on the issue. Speaker Shankar Chaudhary said it was a historical thing that a private member’ bill was passed without any protest. “This was enough to show that the people are also angry with the BBC over the documentary, which showed an incident that happened 20 years ago.

Earlier, the Congress members staged a walkout demanding that the State-run Ambaji Temple should sell only “Mohanthal (a sweet-meat made with besan, ghee and sugar) instead of “Chikki” as decided since it had hurt the sentiments of lakhs of Hindus in India and abroad.